Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), was appointed the deputy director general for programmes (DDP) of World Health Organisation (WHO). This announcement was made on 3 October 2017 by WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Dr. Swaminathan, a pediatrician by speciality, has more than 30 years of experience in clinical care, research and translating those findings into programs. She is a globally recognized researcher on tuberculosis and HIV. She holds an MBBS degree from Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in India, MD degree from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The new WHO leadership team was announced by the director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was elected to the post in May 2017. The team represents 14 countries, including all WHO regions, and is more than 60% women. Every WHO member state gets a chance to nominate a candidate for the deputy’s post and it was India’s turn this year. Dr Swaminathan was India’s nominee. Dr Swaminathan will replace Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah from Ghana, who joined WHO as a senior policy adviser to the director-general and had served as the assistant director-general of the communicable disease programme and the HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria programme.